Etymology/Etymologieth: Precious things

Y'm post etymologieth diwettha, my a skrifas yn-kever gwreydh an erva valweyth y'n yethow Keltek. 

Wel, hedhyw y fynnav kowsel a-dro dhe'n pythow a dennyn a-dhyowrth an dor. An kerrek ha monow plos na a geryn oll hag usi mar gerys, ni a vynn aga palas yn-bann en masse rag kost ughel, ow kul dhe bowdiryow Kernow ha Kembra bos pur dhesiradow.

Ytho, dhe dhalleth, gwryllyn mires orth ger ha moon kemmyn, kober. An ger kober a dheu a-dhyworth an ger Lainek diwedhes cuprum ha'n ger Greka koth kúpros. Awedhyans an dhiw yeth ma war yethow Europa yw godhvedhys yn ta seulabrys, ha cuprum/kúpros yw ensampel da a hemm awos i a yll bos trovyes yn meur a yethow Keltek, Jermanek ha Romantek y'n jydh hedhyw.

Jermanek	Romantek	Keltek
Almaynek: Kupfer	Katalaenek: coure	Bretonek: kouevr
Iseldirek: koper	Frynkek: cuivre	Kernowek: kober
Faroek: kopar	Galisyek: cobre	Kembrek: copr
Swedek: koppar	Romanek: cupru	Wordhonek: copar
Norgaghek: kobber	Spaynek: cobre	Manawek: cobbyr
Luksembourgek: koffer	Asturek: cobre	Godhalek Albanek: copar

Okay, piw a vynn bos rych lemmyn? Gwryllyn mires orth arghans; arian yn Kembrek hag arc'hant yn Bretonek. An tri ger ma a dheu a-dhyworth arɣant yn Proto-Brythonek a dheu a'n Proto-Keltek argantom. Omma y hyllir keheveli an geryow Godhalek: airgead (Wordhonek), argid (Manawek) and airgead (Godhalek Albanaek). Ni a yll neshe'n ger argentum yn Latinek. Gwreydhen an geryow ma (ha moy) yw an Proto-Indo-Europek h₂erǵn̥tom a gontayn an ger h₂erǵ- a styr gwyn po ow splanna - Gwrewgh y henwel rag pandr'a welowgh: "Ev a splann gwynn". Ev yw gwiw dhe verkya y tevnydh pub yeth Vrythonek aga ger rag arghans rag mona keffrys, mes yma geryow aral rag hemma keffrys avel pres (brest) yn Kembrek North.

Ow tochya pythow usi gwynn ha splanna, ottomma moon mogha kerys Kernow, sten a nesha'n ger Bretonek staen. Anr e ma a dheu a-dhyworth an ger Proto-Keltek stagno a nesha'n Latinek stannum. Yma dhe'n Kembrek an ger ystaen a rann an keth gwreydh Keltek, mes hemm yw tamm koth y'n jydh hedhyw. Yn y le, devnydhir an ger tun, kehevelewgh gans an Sowsnek tin ha'n Almaynek Zinn. An re ma dheu a-dhyworth an Proto-Jermanek tiną.

Gwiw yw dhe verkya na vynnewgh kamm-lytherenna an ger tun Kembrek, awos mars y skrifir avel yn Sowsnek, ev a wra kavos an keth styr avel an ger tin yn Kernowek, ow tos a-dhyworth an Proto-Keltek tuknā po tūkno.

Nyns yw Kembra aswonnys rag y arghans, kober po sten, mes rag y owr du, glow.

Glow, avel an geryow glo ha glaou yn Kembrek ha Bretonek, re dheuth dre'n Proto-Brythonek glow a-dhyworth an Proto-Keltek: glouwo, goglo po glowos - An re ma yw ensampel da a'n problemow a yll hwarvos hag owth eyl-wul yethow proto. Wiktionary a boynt an hevelepterow yntra'n Proto-Keltek ha'n Proto-Jermanek glōaną. An ger ma re dreylyas dhe vos an ger kyn-Jermanek gʰloh a ros an yethow Jermanek geryow avel: glühen (Almaynek), gloeien (Iseldiryek), að glóa (Rewenysek) ha to glow (Sowsnek), ytho splanna.

Ha henn o, viaj kott aral yn-dann agan treys ha delergh dre dermyn yethek.

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In my previous etymology post, I wrote about the roots of various mining terminology in Cornish and Welsh. 

Well, today I want to talk about that which we pull from the ground, those dirty stones and minerals we hold so dear and deem worthy enough to dig up en masse and at such great cost, making the hinterlands of Wales and Cornwall so desirable.

So to begin, let's look at a common word and indeed element, copper. The word copper comes from the Late Latin word cuprum from the Ancient Greek kúpros. Latin and Greek's combined influence on language is already widely known and accepted, and cuprum/kúpros is a good example of this as it has entered several modern Romance, Germanic and Celtic languages.

Germanic	Romance	Celtic
German: Kupfer	Catalan: coure	Breton: kouevr
Duch: koper	French: cuivre	Cornish: kober
Faroese: kopar	Galician: cobre	Welsh: copr
Swedish: koppar	Romanian: cupru	Irish: copar
Norwegian: kobber	Spanish: cobre	Manx: cobbyr
Luxembourgish: koffer	Asturian: cobre	Scottish Gaelic: copar

 

Let's go big now and get rich with silver, arghans in Cornish, arian in Welsh and arc'hant in Breton. These three come from the Proto-Brythonic arɣant - the relationship here is very clear. The Proto-Brythonic word comes from the Proto-Celtic argantom, from which the modern Goidelic examples have evolved: airgead (Irish), argid (Manx) and airgead (Scottish Gaelic). The Proto-Celtic cognates to the Latin argentum. The root of all of these words (and more) is the Proto-Indo-European h₂erǵn̥tom, this contains the word h₂erǵ- meaning white or glittering - name it after what you see: "It glitters white". It is also worthy to note that all three Brythonic languages commonly use their respecive words for silver to mean money, although other words are also used, e.g. pres (brass) in North Wales or mona which can be used to mean change or cash in Cornish.

Speaking of things that are white and glitter, we have Cornwall's most well known mineral, tin. Cornwall and Brittany call sten and staen respectively. These come from the Proto-Celtic stagno which cognates to the Latin stannum. Welsh similarly has the word ystaen from the same Celtic roots, however this word now rather outdated having been replaced by the Germanic borrowing tun, compare to the English tin and the German Zinn. These are from the Proto-Germanic tiną. 

It's worthy to note that you do not want to misspell the Welsh tun, for writing it like its English counterpart will lead to sniggers and strange looks. This is because the Welsh and Cornish word tin comes from the Proto-Celtic tuknā or tūkno meaning arse.

Wales is not best known for its silver, copper or tin reserves, but rather for its black gold, coal. 

The Welsh, Cornish and Breton words for coal are as follows: glo, glow and glaou. These have evolved from the Proto-Brythonic glow from the Proto-Celtic: glouwo, goglo or glowos - Thse three demonstrate the dangers of reconstructing proto languages as the results can vary somewhat. Wiktionary points out the similarity between the Proto-Celtic variations and the Proto-Germanic glōaną. This word became the pre-Germanic gʰloh which eventually gave the Germanic languages the words, such as: glühen (German), gloeien (Dutch), að glóa (Icelandic) and to glow (English).

And there we have it, another brief journey under our feet and back through linguistic history.